One of the objectives in the development of elevators has been an efficient and economic utilization of building space. In conventional traction sheave elevators, the machine room or other space designed for housing the drive machinery of the elevator takes up a considerable portion of the building space needed for the elevator. The problem is not only the amount of space required by the drive machinery, but also its placement. There are many different solutions for placing the machine room, but generally they involve a significant restriction in the design of the building, at least in respect of space utilization or appearance. For example, a side drive elevator with machine room below requires a machine room or machine space placed beside the shaft, generally on the lowest floor of the building. Being a special space, the machine room generally increases the building costs.
In recent times, an elevator solution based on a flat machinery with a disc-type motor allowing the machine room to be omitted has been presented. An elevator with machinery below and employing a disc-type motor is presented in EP application publication 0 631 968 A2, in which the path of the counterweight lies above the machinery. Therefore, the minimum shaft height will be the sum of the height of the machinery and the length of the counterweight path plus the required safety distances.